Catnip 2
by Tigey Wigey
Summary: Sequel to Catnip... After Manny's discovery of catnip, the herd teases Diego a little too much... and what will happen when trespassers threaten the herd one day? Updated on 7/12/11. Please R&R!


This is the sequel to my first fanfic, Catnip. Please please _please _review on both of these stories!

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><p><strong>Catnip 2<strong>

Diego hated catnip. Ever since Manny had discovered the plant about a week ago, his herd had been teasing and pulling pranks on him. Sometimes, he woke up to find a pile of catnip Sid had put in front of his face, or sometimes he got rained on when Crash and Eddie dumped some catnip on him from a tree, or sometimes Manny just sprinkled it on him for fun. Everyone got a kick out of watching Diego act all funny; twitching, purring, clawing at the ground for no reason- -and Diego had absolutely no control over it. He was sick of catnip. More often than not, Diego would walk far away from his herd so he could be by himself, without any catnip in sight. He was usually very lonely, and missed being with his herd, but he just couldn't stand all of the catnip. It made him hot, sweaty, dizzy- -but worst of all, it made him look like a complete fool.

One day, Diego was taking a nap on his favorite rock in the mid-day sun. The rock was big, flat, and smooth- -a perfect spot for sabre-toothed tigers to lie down and rest. It was well away from his herd, separated by a good-sized forest. No one would find him and tease him with catnip here. It was also on top of a small cliff, giving him a good view of miles of land in front of him. Diego loved to lie on the smooth surface and bask in the sun for hours, free of worry, and, most importantly, free of catnip.

As the sabre was napping, an eagle perched on a branch on a nearby tree flew off, rustling the leaves on the tree. Being the light sleeper that he was, Diego heard this and woke up. He looked behind him at the tree, and saw the eagle flying off in the sky. Realizing it was just a bird, he rested his head on his paws again, and looked at all the land in front of him. This was one of his favorite activities; he loved looking out from the top of that cliff, watching herds of animals graze and leap away in the grass. It gave him a sense of calmness, even when he was at his most stressed. Sometimes he stayed on that rock overnight, and watched nocturnal animals come out and climb trees, bury food, and engage in other activities. It was peaceful there at night; the moonlight shone on him and the crickets chirped soothingly, as he looked up at all the stars. Usually, though, he would return to the den to sleep when it got late.

As Diego stared off at the horizon, a small herd of yak came into eyesight. He watched them as they grazed, the inside of his mouth watering. The last time he had eaten yak meat was when he was a cub. From what he remembered, yak meat was the best tasting meat he had ever eaten. Good thing he knew that it was too dangerous to hunt prey larger than you by yourself, or else he would have been on those yaks in an instant. He had learned not to hunt large prey by himself when he was young; his sister got fatally wounded in the head after a hoofed animal she had been hunting by herself kicked her. Still, Diego began daydreaming of hunting a yak, and in the end, killing and eating it. He smiled wishfully once his dream was over, slowly closed his eyes, and began napping once again.

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><p>Back at the den, Ellie and Manny stood side-by-side each other, watching Peaches, Sid, Crash, and Eddie build things out of snow. Sid, Crash, and Eddie loved playing with Peaches, teaching her techniques for things like making snowballs for a snowball fight, hunting for fruit, and digging in the snow. Peaches paid attention, and loved it when her three uncles took her out to do something fun. She didn't see her uncle Diego too much, but she was perfectly happy with Sid, Crash, and Eddie.<p>

At last, Peaches had completed her snow sculpture. "Wook!" she said proudly to her parents. "I made a swoth!" Everyone looked at her sloth. Peaches was not the best artist, being she was only 9 months old, and her sloth looked more like a tall, messed up pile of snow, which it was. "Looks just like him." Manny said, pointing the tip of his trunk at Sid. Peaches giggled, proud of her artwork. Sid frowned at Manny, slightly offended by the comment, but soon shook it off and went back to work on his sculpture.

"Manny," Ellie said quietly in her husband's ear so no one else could listen. "Have you seen Diego recently? Like within the last couple of hours?"

Manny thought about it, and came to the conclusion that the last time he had seen Diego had been last night. "No, I haven't."

"Well, I saw him go into that forest again this morning, and he's been there all day. He's been doing that a lot lately, and I think something's bothering him."

Instantly, Manny knew what Ellie wanted him to do. "No, Ellie, I won't go talk to him. You remember what happened _last _time."

"I know, Manny, but this is important. We hardly see him at all. Just go talk to him."

"But- -"

"Manny," Ellie said sternly, giving him 'the look.' There was no use in arguing with her; she always won their arguments.

Manny sighed, defeated. "Fine, I'm going." he said, beginning to walk away. He made his way over to the forest, and walked in, looking up at all of the beautiful trees. No wonder Diego's in here so much- -it's so peaceful, so quiet. Minutes ticked away unnoticed by Manny, who was distracted by all of peace and tranquility he took in as he walked further and further into the forest. The trees' leaves were a bright, brilliant green, and beautiful birds flew overhead. Manny made a mental note to come here more often. Maybe Diego comes in here to look at all of the beauty...no, no, that can't be it, he doesn't usually notice outer beauty in anything...he probably comes here for peacefulness. After all, Sid does a good job of annoying everyone. But then again, he only started coming here a lot a few days ago, and he almost never came here before that...maybe something _is _bothering him.

At long last, Manny reached the end of the forest. Not too far away, he spotted Diego napping on a rock. _So this is where he disappears to everyday..._ Manny thought. "Diego, there ya are," he said aloud. The sabre's ear shifted direction as he picked up the sound of Manny's voice. He woke up and looked back at his friend. _Drat. _he thought. _Now he knows where my hide-out is._ "Hey, Manny."

The mammoth walked over and stood beside Diego's rock, catching an eyeful of all the land; it was truly a spectacle. "Nice view." Diego turned his head to look out also. "Sure is." ... Both were silent for a few seconds, not sure of what to say during the awkward moment. "Ellie sent me here," Manny said finally. "She thinks something's bothering you again."

Diego wasn't one to talk about his feelings, and did so quite rarely. "Nope, everything's fine." he lied. He figured eventually everyone would stop it with the catnip, and that talking about it wasn't necessary. It'll all blow over soon, and he could start coming out of the forest more and more.

"You sure?" Manny asked uncertainly. "I mean, you've been coming out here a lot lately, sometimes even staying here overnight. It kinda seems like you're avoiding us."

"Nah, I just...like having some alone time. I think it's nice to be out here by myself. Ya know, with no one else..." Diego paused for a second, thinking of the right word to use. "...bugging me."

Manny looked angrily at Diego. "You don't want to be around us, do you?" Diego sighed. Manny always took things the wrong way. "No, Manny, I just- -"

"You just what?" Manny interrupted. "You're tired of us? You don't like us anymore?" he said accusingly. "Fine. If you don't want to be around us, feel free to leave." Manny angrily turned and walked away into the forest.

Diego sighed again, frustrated. He couldn't believe how easily Manny got agitated, or how far-off he was. Of course he wasn't trying to avoid his herd; he just wanted to avoid the catnip. Was it too much to ask for seclusion after a plant that makes you act weird has been discovered and is popping up everywhere? Apparently to Manny, it was. Diego felt more alone than ever, being the only one in the herd subject to catnip, but he wanted it that way for now; he was still pretty angry at Manny. He sighed again and went back to sleep.

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><p>Manny walked through the forest back to the den, enraged at Diego. Why would he avoid them? They're his herd! They hadn't done anything wrong, had they? Of course, there were small pranks involving the catnip here and there, but that's no reason to get so upset to isolate yourself from your family! <em>Go ahead, <em>Manny said to the imaginary Diego in his mind. _Just leave already. No point in staying here if you're sick of being with us.  
><em>

Eventually, Manny reached the end of the forest. He spotted Ellie and everyone else doing the same thing they were doing when he had left. Seeing Manny, Ellie walked over to him, assuming he and Diego had talked everything out. "So?" she said, smiling at him.

Manny frowned, angry. "Diego's avoiding us. He's tired of being with us or something." Ellie stared at him disbelievingly. "Now, why would he be tired of us?"

"I don't know." Manny answered. "But he wants to be by himself all the time."

"I'm sure he's not trying to avoid us, Manny. Here, I'll go talk to him. Watch Peaches, okay?"

Manny sighed. "Alright, but if you don't see him, there's a good chance he won't be coming back. I told him he was allowed to leave if he didn't want to be in our herd anymore."

Ellie gave him one last look before she walked passed Manny and went into the forest. Manny shook his head, wondering why Ellie would want to put up with Diego, and walked over to Peaches, who was busy building another snow sculpture.

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><p>As Diego slept with his head resting on his paws, the wind shifted direction, carrying a scent with it. As soon as it reached his nostrils, his eyes flashed open, slightly recognizing the scent.<p>

_Sabres?_

He lifted his head, sniffing the air. The last time he had been in contact with another sabre in any way was over a year ago when he, Manny, and Sid were at Half Peak with Soto, Oscar, Zeke, and Lenny. They all had almost _died _there, and he didn't want it to happen again, no matter how frustrated he was with his herd because of the catnip. Diego stood up and sniffed again, getting a better whiff of the smell. He realized it _was _sabres- -a pack of them- -and that the scent was coming from the east.

No matter how irritating his herd was when they teased him with catnip, Diego would not let anything bad happen to them. After all, that's what you do in a herd. He instantly decided to track down these sabres so he could tell them to back off, and he started heading toward the east, following the scent carefully.

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><p>As she walked further into the forest, Ellie kept looking left and right, searching for Diego. She was positive he was around here somewhere; he wouldn't just leave, would he? Of course not. Well, maybe... After all, Manny did tell him he could leave if he wanted... and if he actually <em>was <em>sick of them, there was really no point in staying... Ellie wasn't sure. She just hoped that Diego was still there. Wherever _that _would be... So far, she hadn't seen or heard him at all ever since she first stepped into the forest, and she had been searching for a while.

The ground was muddy from all the rain that poured down the night before, and it squished under Ellie's feet as she walked. She didn't like it one bit, dirtying up her feet, but she had to keep going; finding Diego was the reason she came in this forest in the first place. As the mammoth walked deeper and deeper into the forest, a trail of footprints up ahead became visible. Ellie squinted, and looked harder. No, not footprints... they were _pawprints. Are those Diego's? _Ellie thought. She walked toward the trail, and studied the prints. _Yep, these are tiger prints. _Ellie smiled, realizing she could just find Diego by following this trail, and started walking along right beside it. At least the mud was good for _something..._

Ellie hadn't been following the trail for very long when it led her to the end of the forest. She stepped outside of the forest and stopped, looking all around. No Diego. The mammoth turned back to the pawprint trail. Because there were no trees above to trap in moisture, the water in the ground was evaporating, and the pawprints were fading. However, Ellie was still able to track them. She followed the waning trail to a rock; the prints ended in front of it, so Ellie guessed Diego had gone on the rock to sleep, or whatever_. _Then, next to the rock, she eyed another trail of pawprints leading away from it, heading east. Ellie stood where she was and followed the trail with her eyes. Eventually, they became so faded that she couldn't see them anymore. Diego had left them, and she couldn't track him down. Her heart sank when she realized this was true, but then thought about Diego; if this made him happier, Ellie didn't want to stop him. Diego was allowed to do whatever he wanted. Still, she was pretty disappointed that he wasn't in the herd anymore, and she sadly turned away and retraced her steps back into the forest.

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><p>Diego had been following the scent trail for a while, yet he had not seen any sabres. Still, he had to find them or else something bad might happen later on. He continued on with his search, fully alert so that he would see or hear them if they showed up. Following the trail, Diego was eventually led to a small forest (not the one near his herd, but another one out east), and the scent was stronger than ever. He stopped, examining the ground, and sniffing so he would know exactly where they went. They were close.<p>

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><p>From inside of the forest, a pack of six sabres trotted lightly on the wet soil, alert for any noises or creatures that might give away their position. The alpha and beta of the pack were in front leading the way, as the group maneuvered around trees and other such obstacles. So far, all had gone well, and their plan was working perfectly, but the sabres were all on edge, wondering if they would be sought out and their genius plan ruined. This pack has heard about a group of mixed animals living in the valley out west: one sloth, two possums, a sabre-toothed cat- -just like them- -, and a small family of mammoths; and that's what they're after. Mammoth meat was one of the best-tasting meats around, and all of the other mammoths they've challenged were far too aggressive for only six cats. But these mammoths are living with possums, a sloth, and one of their kind; surely they mustn't be too aggressive.<p>

As the tigers trotted swiftly forward, a particular scent reached their noses; another sabre's. "Stop." the alpha commanded quietly. All cats stopped.

"What is it, Al..."

"SHUSH!" the alpha spat at the tiger who spoke. "Do you smell that?" he asked in a much more serious voice.

All nostrils flared open, taking in the scent. "That isn't another sabre, is it?" the beta asked. That confirmed the alpha's suspicions. "Yes." he said. "No packs live around here, so it must be that tiger that lives with the mammoths. If we let him see us, it's likely he's going to warn the mammoths, and they might leave. We'll have to abandon our plans for today and come back tomorrow."

"Can't we just kill him now?" one of the tigers asked. The alpha looked at him, annoyed. "No, you fool. If we kill him, the mammoths will get suspicious of his absence, and that one flaw might ruin the whole operation. We leave and come back tomorrow."

The other tigers knew that if the alpha said a statement like that, it was final. A few sighed in disappointment. "Let's go." the alpha said, turning around. "I sense he's getting closer. We have to leave...now."

The rest of the pack turned around and followed their leader back to where they came from. Well, at least their plan wasn't _totally _messed up- -they could carry on with it tomorrow. They continued walking, heading away from their targets.

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><p>As Diego sniffed the ground, he noticed the scent was getting weaker and weaker. Maybe they left...? He couldn't be sure. Even if they really <em>did <em>leave, it wouldn't hurt to check. He followed the weakening scent trail into the forest, and looked around. He couldn't see any sabres, so he kept walking, keeping an eye out for the trespassers. As Diego walked deeper and deeper into the forest, he eventually could no longer smell the tigers_. _He was just about certain they had left. Still, it was best to warn Manny and the others so they could keep an eye out in case they came back. He turned around and retraced his steps back to the herd_._

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><p>Sid stepped back and admired his newly-finished snow sculpture. He then quickly made a few last-minute adjustments, and put his hands on his hips in satisfaction when he was done. "Voila!" he exclaimed. "My masterpiece is done!"<p>

Peaches, Crash, and Eddie stopped what they were doing and looked at Sid's sculpture, as did Manny who was lying down next to Peaches. Everyone stared at it, trying to figure out what it was. Eventually, Manny gave up. "Sid, we have no idea what that is."

The sloth frowned. "Don't you see it? It's Diego!" Everyone else looked at it more closely, the light bulbs going off one by one as they made out the shape of the tiger. "Oh, I see it.'' Crash said finally. Then, the snow making up the legs of the sabre collapsed, causing the rest of the body to fall down, too. It all fell on top of each other and made one big pile of snow. "Aw..." Sid said disappointedly.

"Um...I'm no doctor, but I think Diego died." said Manny.

Crash, Eddie, and Peaches chuckled at the joke and went back to work on their sculptures. Then, Ellie emerged from the forest, an unusually downhearted expression on her usually happy face. The mammoth made her way over to Manny and lied down beside him.

"Yeah, he left." she said simply once she settled down. "At least he's happier this way."

"Yeah." Manny agreed. "Only downside is that he's the only one we could pull pranks on with the catnip." he said, smiling as he thought about how Diego reacts to catnip. Watching the sabre get near catnip was a real knee-slapper.

Sid couldn't help but overhear the mammoths's conversation. "Wait, what? You're not talking about Diego, are you? He left?" the sloth said, worried his best friend may be gone forever. Hearing this, Crash, Eddie, and Peaches stopped sculpting again and looked up at Sid, and then at Manny.

"Yeah, he left." Manny answered. "But- -"

"What? He left_? _This is terrible!_" _the sloth said, cutting Manny off. Manny sighed._"Here he goes again..." _he thought. "We...we gotta find him! He's my best friend! Guys, come on! Let's go find him! If we wait, we might never see him again!"

Then, Diego came out of the forest and briskly walked over to the herd. "So much for never seeing him again." Eddie said.

Upon seeing Diego, Sid gasped in happiness, and rushed over to the sabre, smiling at him with that goofy smile of his. "You're here! You didn't leave! Yay! You know what? I'll make you a special present- -another snow Diego! The one I made earlier died so to say, and now it looks like a mountain. But the new one I'll make is going to be better, and maybe gravity won't kill you again!"

Diego, confused, stared at the sloth. His gaze shifted over to Manny, as if asking _"What the heck is he talking about?" _Manny shrugged. The sabre looked back at Sid, then looked down at his paws. He cleared his throat. "Well, uh..." he said, looking back up. "I came here to tell you that earlier I smelled a pack of sabres... they went away, though, but I thought I should warn you about them."

"Well, if they left, we don't need to worry about it." Manny concluded.

Diego was about to say something back when Ellie spoke. "Wait, I thought you left!" the mammoth asked. Sid looked at Diego, having the same question.

"What? Left where?" said Diego, a little confused.

Catching a pause in the conversation, Peaches ran up to her rarely-seen uncle, her big, green eyes sparkling at the sabre. "Uncle Diego!" she exclaimed happily. Diego smiled at the toddler and patted her on the head. "Hey, kiddo." As much as he hated to admit it, he missed being around a 9-month-old. Oh well, the catnip thing will wear off eventually...

"So..." Ellie said, continuing the conversation. "You didn't leave?"

"No." the sabre answered.

Manny, not caring about Diego or whether he stayed or not, realized it was starting to get dark out. "Ellie, we should get Peaches to B-E-D." he said, spelling out the word Peaches hated so much.

Ellie looked up at the sky, and realized it _was _getting late. "Okay. Peaches, come here!"

Peaches turned to Diego. "I fink dey want me to go to sweep. Goodnight, Uncle Diego!"

"Night, kiddo." said the tiger. Peaches turned around and ran back to Ellie, letting her mom lead her inside of the cave to her bed.

"You know what?" Sid said, turning to Diego. "I think you're her favorite uncle!" He cupped his claws around his mouth and turned toward the den. "Goodnight, Peaches!" he called out.

"Goodnight, sloth!" Peaches called back. Everyone burst out laughing, even Sid a little bit. "See?" Sid said to Diego after everyone had calmed down a bit. "She's even copying you!"

"Alright, guys." Manny said. "Time to hit the hay." The mammoth turned and walked inside of the den, everyone else following him. Manny and Ellie were settled down on either side of Peaches, Sid settled down on his rock, the possums hanging by their tails from a vine at the top of the ceiling, and Diego settled down at the entrance of the den.

"Night, everyone." Ellie said sleepily. One by one, Manny, Ellie, Peaches, Crash, Eddie, and Sid closed their eyes and fell asleep. Diego was the only one still awake. He stared off into the night sky, deep in thought, wondering why a strange pack of sabres had come there that day. In his mind, Diego admitted to himself that it worried him, mostly because a pack of six sabres could do some damage on a seven-member herd where only three of them could fight the tigers off: himself, Manny, and Ellie. The others were virtually helpless to even _one _sabre. At least the sabres were gone... for now. Diego had no idea if they were coming back or not, but he hoped that they would stay away from him and his herd.

Eventually, sleep overcame the tiger, and he rested his head on his paws then closed his eyes.

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><p><em>The next morning...<em>

"Alright! Time to go!" the alpha shouted. The five other sabres lazily woke up, wishing they could get ten more minutes of sleep. But... an order was an order. They all stood up, looking at the alpha.

"Let's go!" he said again, turning around.

"We gunna attack the mammoths now, Boss?" one of the younger tigers asked. The alpha turned his head and looked at him, annoyed. "What do you think?"

The younger sabre lowered his ears in slight shame while the alpha rolled his eyes and turned his head back around. "Alright, men." he said, starting to trot forward. The other sabres followed, trotting as well. "If we keep this pace, we should get there in time for breakfast."

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><p>As Diego slept in, a little later than usual, he nose picked up a scent...the scent of his arch nemesis<em>, <em>the scent of _evil..._catnip. His eyes flashed open. Sure enough, he was surrounded by uprooted catnip, and in the sidelines was none other than his herd. They were staring at him, looking as if they were going to burst out laughing any minute... Diego knew they had put all this catnip here and that they were just waiting for him to react to the plant. He didn't want to react, but unfortunately for him, he couldn't help it. That same, old, irritating, hot, fizzy, sweaty, weird feeling came to him again. His ear twitched. That one little twitch was enough to send the rest of the herd into a fit of laughter._ "I would think that this would get old after the billionth time," Diego thought. _

The sweaty tiger started digging his claws into the ground, his body and face also starting to twitch uncontrollably. It was miserable. His herd- -his faithful friends- -were cracking up a storm, unknowingly watching Diego suffer. And he had no control over it. He, Diego the sabre-toothed tiger, was getting beat up by a plant. The thought made him feel terrible. He just wanted to get away from it all- -the catnip, the laughter, the humiliation. The tiger stood up on wobbly legs, and slowly walked outside of the den, leaving the rest of the herd rolling on their backs laughing their sides out. Still a little twitchy, Diego walked as fast as he could away from the den. After about a minute, the feeling went away, and the sabre stopped, panting, glad he was able to break free from the catnip's wrath.

He turned his head around, looking at his herd. They were having the time of their lives. The tiger frowned at them. He was sick of catnip- -he hated it. He hated how his own herd teases him with it all the time. He hated how it made him feel all hot and sweaty and weird. He hated how it smelled. He hated how easily his herd could get to it. He hated _everything _about it. The only reason why he wouldn't talk about it with his herd was that his ego would be ruined. A tiger's ego was very important to him or her, and he would not soil it by _talking about his personal problems. _That's lame. _Real _tigers go with the flow, and fight through. Diego was a real tiger. However, catnip attacks had been happening _all the time _for over a week, and he couldn't take much more. It was very stressful_, _and he just felt like ripping the fur on the sides of his head out.

Leaving the herd in a fit of laughter, Diego quickly walked over to the edge of the forest, and then walked in. He needed some time to himself. After several minutes, he came out of the other side of the forest and walked over to his good, old rock, the one place he could get some privacy from that horrible plant. The sabre jumped on top of it and lied down, resting his head on his paws and looking out at the view of all the land in front of him. The ends of his mouth curved up into a slight smile as he basked in the sun peacefully.

He had only been there for about ten minutes when, from out of the corner of his right eye, he saw a pack of six sabres running east across the land at the bottom of the cliff. Diego picked his head up, watching the tigers. Then, it dawned on him as he picked up their scent- -they were the same pack of sabres he had smelled in his territory the day before. They were now heading toward his herd. He quickly stood up, and from the top of the cliff, started sprinting after his herd, needing to get them out of there before the stranger sabres reached them. Running into the forest, he dodged trees and bushes, not slowing down one bit. The pack of tigers didn't know Diego was doing this, and therefore kept their slower pace.

Eventually, Diego reached the end of the forest, and quickly ran over to the den. The herd had stopped laughing at that point, and were all lying down in a circle inside the den talking to each other. Out of breath and panting heavily, Diego stood at the den's opening. Everyone stopped talking and turned their heads to look at the sabre as Diego tried to catch his breath. He had been sprinting the whole entire time he was in the forest without stopping.

"There's...a...pack of...tigers...coming here. W...we...gotta...go..." he said difficultly in between breaths.

"What?" Manny said nervously.

"There's...a pack...of..."

"No, I heard what you said! We have to get out of here! Come on, Ellie. Get Peaches." he said, standing up. Diego tiredly moved aside as the mammoth came out of the den, followed by Ellie, who was cradling Peaches in her trunk, and carrying Crash and Eddie on her shoulders. Sid was last to come out, bringing up the rear of the herd as Diego weakly trotted up beside Manny, who was in the lead. The sabre had a bad feeling the pack of sabres would catch up, since the fastest the herd could move was a fast walk. He could smell the other tigers getting closer and closer as the herd headed east.

They hadn't been traveling even one minute when the stranger pack of sabres came bursting out of the forest, running toward them at full speed. Everyone stopped walking and turned to the tigers, the tigers halting as they ran up to them and were about ten feet away. They looked mean... almost as if they were angry.

"What do you want?" Manny said bravely, staring at the alpha square in the eye.

The alpha smiled threateningly at the mammoth. "For years, we've always wanted to taste mammoth meat." he said, him and the rest of the pack crouching down and slowly advancing toward the herd. "Cooperate, and we'll kill you quickly so you won't feel a thing."

"Wait!" Manny said. "You can eat me if you want, but let Ellie and Peaches go."

The pack of tigers chuckled under their breath. "Peaches?" one tiger said quietly, making fun of the young mammoth's name.

"No," the alpha said. His face turned serious again. "No, you mammoths will be our main meal. Maybe for our appetizer, we could have some sloth, and those two possums can be our side dishes. You..." he said, turning toward Diego. "...you can be our waiter, and clean up the mess when we're done." Diego growled, even though he knew it wouldn't intimidate the other tigers.

The pack of sabres, advancing toward their prey, made the mammoths, sloths, and possums shake in fear. They couldn't do anything- -fight back, and they would suffer instead of dying painlessly. Run, and the tigers would catch up. They were trapped. Diego knew he had to do something... but he really couldn't do anything. His herd was almost certainly going to die.

As the tigers got closer and closer to the herd, out of the corner of his eye, Diego happened to spot some...catnip. He didn't know if it would work, but hey... it was worth a shot. He quickly grabbed the catnip with paw, trying to control himself. Even though it made him twitchy, he managed to uproot the catnip. Suddenly, he threw the pawful of catnip at the pack of tigers. They all stopped in their tracks, starting to fall victim to the plant.

"Quick!" Manny yelled, taking advantage of the opportunity to act. "Grab some catnip and throw it on them!"

Everyone's trunks, paws, and claws reached for some catnip, plucking it from the ground and throwing it at their attackers. This catnip was their only chance, and they were all throwing as much as they could as fast as the could. Soon, there wasn't anymore catnip left, but the damage had already been done. The pack of sabres were all twitching uncontrollably, purring, and digging their claws into the ground.

"What is this stuff?" one sabre asked.

"Just a little something we like to call...catnip." Crash said, he and Eddie smiling menacingly at them. Diego, also falling victim to the catnip, managed to stay where he was, but the pack of sabres had had enough. Catnip was miserable. They were all sweating, purring, twitching, getting humiliated... looking like complete fools. "Retreat!" the alpha yelled. He turned around and headed back into the forest, the other twitchy sabres gladly following.

"I didn't think that would work..." Diego said, amazed. After a few minutes, he stopped twitching, and was back to normal. He was so happy the catnip effects had finally wore off on him... he couldn't take much more than a few minutes of being around catnip.

"Haha!" Sid laughed victoriously. "Now they know not to mess with us!"

"Yeah!" said Peaches happily.

Secretly, Crash and Eddie jumped off of Ellie's shoulders, and sneaked over to the uprooted catnip. They grabbed some in their paws and quickly got back on their sister's shoulders, grasping the catnip tightly in their hands. The two possums turned toward Sid and held up their hands, revealing the plant. Sid, wanting to play along too, also secretly picked up some catnip in his claws. Manny saw Sid, and picked up some catnip in his trunk, and Ellie saw Manny and picked some up in _her _trunk. Diego was distracted, watching a rabbit graze on some grass in the distance, and everyone else exchanged looks, knowing exactly what to do. All at once, everyone dumped their trunkfuls, handfuls, and clawfuls on the poor sabre.

After apprehending what had happened, Diego realized he had had enough. All this catnip was just too much stress and humiliation; he was sick of it. He looked at his herd angrily, and growled at them. "WOULD YOU KNOCK IT OFF WITH THE CATNIP ALREADY?" he yelled. He stormed off, going into the forest. Diego was usually calm, and cool-headed; he never yelled at his herd. Everyone just stood there, stunned.

Diego walked through the forest, enraged. He was frustrated with his herd constantly picking on him with that stupid plant. Sure, catnip had just saved them, but he hated it. It caused him so much stress. He needed some time to calm down and clear his head.

Eventually, he arrived at his favorite rock..._again..._, jumped on top of it, and lied down. He looked off into the distance, and thought about the good things about his herd to calm him down. His mom had taught him this trick when he was a cub whenever his siblings had made him mad, and it worked pretty well. After a few minutes, he was completely relaxed.

The sabre was so absorbed in looking out at all the land and was so relaxed that he had not noticed Manny and the others approaching him until they had emerged from the forest. Eventually noticing that he was hearing some rustling in the woods, Diego looked over his shoulder to find out what the noise was. And out stepped Manny, with the others following behind him. Once everyone was out, they all stood at the edge of the forest and stared at the sabre. Diego had to apologize to them.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you." he said, slightly guilty and embarrassed.

"It's okay," Ellie said reassuringly. "But... did the catnip bother you?"

How did she think catnip _didn't _bother him? Of course it bothered him! He hated it! "...Yeah." he replied in a sarcastic-like tone.

Crash and Eddie nervously rubbed the back of their necks with their hands. "Hehe... yeah, we overdid it a little..." said Crash. Ignoring her brothers, Ellie took a few steps closer to Diego. "Really?" she said, kind of surprised. "I thought you liked it, cause you purred every time you got near it."

Diego quietly chuckled under his breath. Ellie knew _nothing _about felines. "No... that stuff just makes me purr, I have no control over it_."_

"Diego, if the catnip bothered you, why didn't you say something?" said Manny.

"When I was a cub, my siblings would do stuff like this to me all the time. Whenever I argued with them or fought back, they just did it more. So, I had a wait-it-out strategy, just like this time. Besides, you know I hate talking about this stuff."

"You should've told us the catnip was bothering you. We would've stopped. " said Ellie. "We promise we won't tease you with catnip anymore, okay?"

Diego was unsure if Ellie was telling the truth_, _but he guessed he just had to trust her. "Okay." he said skeptically.

"And you'll come out of the forest more?" Sid asked hopefully.

By this point, Diego was growing noticeably uncomfortable about talking about himself and his feelings. "Yes, Sid." he said, slightly irritated.

Ellie, being the 'mother' of the group, sensed this and decided it was time for them to go. "Come on, guys." she said, rapping it up. "It's time we should be heading back. Peaches needs to take her nap." Right on cue, Peaches opened her mouth real wide and made a big, loud yawn in drowsiness. Blinking her eyes a few times repeatedly then looking up at Ellie told everyone that the young mammoth agreed. "Let's go." Ellie said again, turning around. Peaches, Crash, Eddie, and Sid followed. "You coming, Diego?" Sid asked before disappearing into the forest.

"Nah, I'm gunna stay here for a little bit. I think I might take a nap too." Diego answered, turning his head around and resting his head on his paws.

"Okay," the sloth said. He then headed into the forest, leaving Diego and Manny alone. "So..." Manny said, startling Diego the moment he spoke. The sabre had forgotten he was there. "Oh, you scared me." he said, looking back at Manny. But then he thought about it for a split second. "Well...surprised me. Anyway, I thought you left..."

"No, I-uh just wanted to make sure that... you weren't leaving... Th-the rest of the herd... would ya know... miss you, and I just wanted to make sure..." Manny stuttered. For some reason, he didn't want Diego to know that he would have been disappointed if the sabre had left. Unfortunately for him, Diego sensed that by his stuttering and his nervous posture that the rest of the herd missing him was just an excuse; he knew that Manny would have missed him too, and snickered at his failed attempt to hide it well.

"No, I'm not leaving." he said. "And by the way, you'd miss me too if I had left."

"No..." Manny said nervously. "I... I just... you... uh... I'd...um, uh..." Diego looked at him, and Manny could tell by the way he was smiling at him and the way he tilted his head that Diego was giving him the look that said "admit it." Manny sighed. "Fine, I would be kinda sad if you left." Diego smiled at him in satisfaction. "And also..." Manny continued. "The last time you left... if I wasn't all excited about having a baby soon, I would have been kinda down..."

"Well, Manny, I'm not leaving this... messed-up herd anytime soon. Just... no more catnip. It's been driving me crazy."

"No more catnip." Manny declared.

"Good."

The mammoth then realized he had to get back to Ellie and Peaches before anyone started to worry about him. "Well, uh... I'll leave you alone so you can take your nap... so... I guess I'll see ya around."

"Alright. See ya." Diego said, ending the conversation. He rested his head on his paws again, ready to fall asleep. Manny turned and walked back into the woods to the rest of his family, secretly glad Diego wasn't leaving.

The sleepy tiger slowly closed his eyes, and quickly went into a light sleep, contentedly happy that the catnip problem was over with once and for all.

Diego had been sleeping for about twenty minutes when he yet again heard more rustling in the woods. In his sleep, he could faintly smell the scent of that same old pack of sabres. His eyes immediately opened, and he sprang up on all four paws, ready for action. He looked in the direction that the scent was coming from, and crouched down in springing position. With a low growl, he sprang ahead, bursting into the forest and landing right in front of the other sabres as they were running through. Diego turned and faced them, blocking their path and growling threateningly under his breath.

"Go away." he ordered sternly. "Didn't you learn your lesson back there?" The alpha faced Diego, also growling, and readying himself to attack should this fiendish sabre pounce on him or make any other moves. "You think that we would lose our chance at having a delicious meal because of some plant?" he questioned menacingly. "Heck, no! We just left so we could come back and attack you later when you didn't have that catnip stuff around to save your butts!"

After the alpha had said, "having a delicious meal," Diego knew that they were just after good-tasting meat, not necessarily his herd. "So... you just want good meat?" he questioned, wondering if he could be able to solve both their problems.

"Well... yeah... what's it to ya?" the alpha said, growling.

Diego smiled on the inside, knowing he could fix this. He stopped growling and stood up, making him appear nonthreatening. "Tell you what... I'll let you in on a secret that would solve your problem if you leave my herd and me alone... Deal?"

The alpha also stopped growling and stood up, somewhat interested in this offer. "What's the secret?" he said skeptically.

As soon as he said that, Diego knew he was on board. "Have you ever had... yak before?"

"We haven't, Alpha." one of the other sabres said. "Hm." the alpha mumbled, thinking. "No, I guess we haven't."

_Good, _Diego thought. "Well, if you want some good meat, try hunting yak." he said. "But you have to leave us alone." The alpha looked at him, nodding a few times. "Deal."

Without another word, the pack of sabres departed, running away for good. Diego was glad that problem was over and done with. Actually... _all _his problems were over and done with, considering catnip was his only other problem. He exhaled a sigh of relief, and walked back over to his rock. After he sat on it, he felt like he was on top of the world. Happy, he closed his eyes and fell fast asleep, worry-free, trespasser-free, and catnip-free once again.

No more catnip.

* * *

><p><em>Like it?<em>

_Please please PLEASE review! Please._

_I will start my new fanfic, Revival of the Fittest, soon, and also some more Character Conversations. These conversations will be featuring the major characters in the Ice Age franchise. (Diego, Sid, Manny, Ellie, Crash and Eddie, and Peaches.) (Not Buck... he's too busy riding Rudy.)_

_Again, please review!  
><em>


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